Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa is a feisty and nimble politician who knows a thing or two about advancing her interest even in tight situations. She can with ease entertain communist leaders at her Poes Garden residence with a view to reaching a poll-related compact while giving not an inch on the contours of her own political thinking. Of course, this is due in part to the communists’ own inclination to go back satisfied if the ruling Congress has been given the stick in parleys, but there can be no question about the AIADMK leader’s sense of realpolitik.
Naturally, her criticism of the BJP hours before that party’s mascot, Mr Narendra Modi, was to arrive to commence electioneering in the southern state on Sunday has been noted with a degree of surprise. She had not taken pot-shots at the saffron party before. This feature of her political strategy has drawn obvious comment from many, and adverse review from the Left and others of secular bent, especially the minorities. What’s more, Ms Jayalalithaa has also been known to have a personal rapport with her Gujarat counterpart. This only added grist to the mill of her detractors.
In terms of the current national scene, Ms Jayalalithaa’s studious refusal to be critical of the BJP led most commonly to the inference that she was getting ready to back a BJP-led government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha election (a far from unlikely scenario) as she has not enjoyed the luxury of leveraging national power for many years while simultaneously enjoying power in her state.
Known for her resourcefulness, the CM thus made a calibrated criticism of the party that seeks to replace the Congress at the Centre. She stuck to a book of manoeuvres and did not turn the leaves of a book on assaults. She criticised the BJP from Karur, an agrarian region, on the Cauvery waters issue, but deftly balanced it with making the same criticism of the Congress. Most notably, Ms Jayalalithaa did not take on the BJP on any other count, especially the “communal” question for which the saffronites are generally taken to task. In particular, the AIADMK chief kept her Gujarat counterpart out of the equation.
If Ms Jayalalithaa is seeking the best deal for herself and her party, it cannot be far from her mind to see herself in the seat for which the BJP is positioning Mr Modi. In effect, if the AIADMK can win enough Lok Sabha seats, it is within the realm of possibility for the party to seek the BJP’s backing to make their leader PM, should the latter slip up on the tally-board — a sort of Third Front the other way round.
